Buslingthorpe power station development

Reg Biopower proudly inaugurates its power station at Buslingthorpe Green

On Friday 14th October 2011 Fabian was honoured to be invited to open the new environmentally friendly power station at Buslingthorpe Green which lies in the constituency. This ground breaking new facility has been pioneered by Reg Biopower and represents an important step forward in developing sustainable carbon neutral energy generation technology.

Fabian pictured with Ian Collins, Managing Director of Reg Biopower in front of the oil storage and filtration unit at the Buslingthorpe power station.

One of the power generation units with 16 litre Volvo diesel engine driving a 450V 3 phase alternator

Fabian was fascinated to learn the details of this new technology. The power station is fuelled by a bioliquid recovered from used cooking oil that is collected from recycling centres, schools, prisons and other large institutions. This oil is naturally filtered to remove sediment, a process that includes no use of energy or chemicals and it becomes a pure product that can be burned in conventional diesel engines. The bioliquid manufactured by this process is classified as an End of Waste fuel by the Environment Agency. The Buslingthorpe plant comprises an oil storage / filtration unit and five heavily shrouded engine / generator units each operating a bit like a diesel train locomotive where an engine is connected directly to an alternator that produces electricity. This power is fed into the mains supply at times when the National Grid is short of capacity and on other occasions when the spot price for electricity makes the station economic to run.

The opening ceremony was attended by The Rev Alan Taylor, Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillors Jane Dowson (Chapel Allerton) and Neil Walshaw (Headingley) who were introduced to Ian Collins the managing director of Reg Biopower and his staff. Fabian and the other guests were invited to look inside a generating unit. Each contains a 16 litre Volvo engine, running at 1500 rpm and coupled to a 400kW generator. The total output of the plant is 2MW which can power around 1000 homes or run an electric train. Electricity is generated at 450V then transformed to 11 kV before being fed to the grid. The plant runs semi-automatically and a signal from the National Grid can start up the generators yielding full power on stream within ten minutes. Fabian and his Councillor colleagues were delighted with the very low level of noise that can be heard when the plant is running. Even though the plant is not in a residential area it is satisfying to note that noise pollution has been kept to a minimum.

Fabian cuts the ribbon ably assisted by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Rev. Alan Taylor together with Stephen Booth, Development Director and Ian Collins, Managing Director from Reg Biopower. Four of the five sound proofed generator units, recognisable by the large exhaust silencers can be seen in the background.

The Lord Mayor of Leeds is invited to swicth on a generator using remote access from a computer

In speaking about the venture Fabian said that he was delighted to see such a good example of technological enterprise take root in the constituency. He wished Reg Biopower every success with their commercial venture which he hoped would seed many similar projects in other areas of the country. Ian Collins, Managing Director from Reg Bipower was keen to stress the carbon neutral nature of the operation as the plant would be burning only the carbon extracted from the air by growing plants. It does not in any way deplete the Earth's fossil fuel resources and add yet more new carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.